


In Their Past (Or, Why Booth Hates Profilers)

by LittleSweetCheeks



Category: Bones (TV), Criminal Minds
Genre: Flashbacks, Fluff, M/M, Smut, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Unhealthy Relationships, past relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-12-12 22:24:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11746407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleSweetCheeks/pseuds/LittleSweetCheeks
Summary: Similarities could draw two people together, or drive them apart.





	In Their Past (Or, Why Booth Hates Profilers)

**Author's Note:**

> The is in response to the FA Rare Pairs Challenge. As I researched for the story, I discovered the two characters had a lot of similarities.

Dave leaned against the inside of the door frame, one ankle casually crossed over the other and waited, tossing a coin in the air and catching it.

Hotch glanced up and paused. “Dave.” He tracked the coin as it flipped in the air and landed in the older agent’s hand.

“You know. He hasn’t competed the last two years because of other commitments, but he’s signed up already this year. Those younger agents don’t know what they’re up against. He’ll win for sure.”

He tracked the coin as his friend tossed and caught it again. “No.”

“Why not?” It came out incredulous.

Aaron glanced at the corner of his desk as if he could see through the thick wood to the photo in the back of the top drawer. “I’ve managed to not speak to him in five years. I’ve managed to only see him a handful of times in the twelve before that.”

His brows rose. “Given your positions, exactly how have you managed that? Surely there have been times, meetings and things, that would have required some paths crossing.”

“Carefully. I don’t have to personally attend meetings at the Hoover building and he doesn’t generally have to attend out here. I even manage to wait to sign up for lecture times at the academy so we’re on different days. Same with the shooting range.”

Dave smirked. “The range probably has a system notice to not let the two of you on site at the same time anyway.”

Hotch gave his friend a hard look before sagging back and shrugging. “You’re probably right. I still don’t want to compete against him.”

Finally coming all the way into the room, Rossi sat across the desk from him. “Talk to me. Why not?”

“You were there.”

“You’re right, I was there to clean up the mess he left behind. To shovel you out of the gutter and wring you out. I know what little you told me then, but it’s been a long time, Aaron.”

Letting his head fall back, he sighed heavily.

==

_ Early 1995 _

_Aaron was busy emptying his case into drawers when someone else stepped into the room._

_“Room four eighteen?”_

_He looked up at the young man who seemed to be his same age, with his close-cut hair and muscled build. “Yeah. You must be my roommate then?”_

_The young man nodded. “Seeley Booth.” He strode in and dumped his bags on the vacant bed._

_“Aaron Hotchner.” He watched as his new roommate started to copy his actions and unload his own things. “I can’t really believe I’m actually doing this.” He admitted._

_“No? What were you doing before?”_

_“I was, am, a lawyer. I worked in the Federal Prosecutor’s office.”_

_Surprised, Booth turned and gaped at him. “This is a major change then. No law enforcement experience?”_

_“No. I wanted a change. I just was getting so burnt out trying to stop these people after they’d already done things, keep them from doing them again.”_

_He nodded, he could understand that._

_“You?”_

_“Army.” He didn’t elaborate._

_Studying the other man’s back, he wasn’t really surprised. Probably ex-special forces. “Uh, which orientation time did you get?”_

_Kicking his bags under the bed, Booth flopped down and stretched out. “Eight A.M. You?”_

_“Nine-thirty.” He couldn’t help the grin when his roommate called him a bastard._

==

Dave waited patiently for Hotch to speak again. He’d known the pair had been roommates, he’d been watching Hotch since very early on in his courses and it had been impossible to watch one without watching the other as well. They both made waves.

==

_ 1995 _

_It was the first time he’d actually seen his roommate completely naked and what he saw brought multiple emotions rushing to the surface. Pushing the room door shut, he watched Seeley startle and whip around, not bothering to cover himself. Aaron wasn’t interested in what he was seeing now though, he was caught on what he saw on his back._

_“Who?”_

_“What?!” Seeley snapped._

_Aaron sighed and moved to sit on his bed. He chewed on his lip a minute, debating. “My dad beat us. All of us but mostly my mom and me. I have a younger brother, he didn’t get it as bad because I would jump in and protect him.”_

_Seeley didn’t know how to respond, so he stayed quiet._

_“I know what abuse looks like because I’ve lived it.” He didn’t look up from the floor._

_“My dad too. He was a fan of his belt.” The room sank into silence for a long while before he finally sat beside Aaron on the bed. “I would protect my little brother too. He’s sixteen now.”_

_Aaron nodded. “Mine’s fourteen.”_

_After another minute, Seeley finally moved to get dressed. There was a kind of relief in not having to hide his scars from his roommate anymore and knowing he wouldn’t be judged. “My Pops finally saved us. Who saved you?” He asked softly._

_He swallowed before looking up. “No one.”_

==

Dave shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He’d known about Aaron’s family history and he’d made assumptions about Booth’s, had heard rumors, but he’d never had it confirmed before. It explained how the pair became joined at the hip so quickly. “When did it change?”

Aaron was staring in the middle distance. “During the mid-term break. We both stayed at the Academy, neither of us really had anyone to visit. Haley and I had been taking a break over the fact I was even at the Academy and Sean was in school. Jared too. We had gone bar hopping and took a cab back to the dorm.”

==

_ 1995 _

_Aaron wasn’t certain, but he was fairly sure he was drunker than he’d ever been. They’d sagged together in the cab, giggling at nothing and listening to the driver complain about drunks and threaten them if they threw up in his car._

_Stumbling into the dorm building, he good naturedly shoved his friend who grabbed Aaron’s arm as he stumbled into the wall, pulling him on top of him. Aaron was too drunk to hold back the moan as his drunk arousal ground into Seeley’s hip. When he got wasted, he got horny, it was why he didn’t get wasted often. He knew there would be no willing his boner away, he’d have to deal with it somewhere more private than the communal bathrooms._

_Seeley’s eyes widened as he felt the obvious bulge grinding against him, waking his own despite his wishes. “What are you doing?” He grunted out._

_“Shit.” Aaron tried to stand up, but it took two tries. “Sorry.” He slurred. He stared down at his tented pants. “’S not gonna go away on its own, neither.” He tried to adjust himself but only made things worse. “Need to get upstairs.”_

_Half shoving, half-dragging his plastered, horny friend up to their room, Seeley shoved him onto his own bed and watched slack-jawed as the slimmer man instantly began to strip naked, palming his now exposed cock._

_Aaron had forgotten he wasn’t alone, the alcohol in his system short-circuiting his brain so all he could think about was finding his release. Stroking himself quickly, he swore and bucked. “God, that feels so good.”_

_He was just drunk enough that he was easily aroused himself and a moment later, Seeley was stripping and heading for his own bed to jack off._

_“No.”_

_He looked up to see glazed brown eyes trying to focus on him, free hand out._

_“Come over here. Please?”_

_“Please?” Seeley wasn’t sure what was about to happen._

_The sound that bubbled out of Aaron sounded similar to a sob, but Seeley couldn’t be sure. “Touch me. And I’ll touch you.”_

_Climbing onto the narrow bed, he watched in amazement as Aaron drew both cocks together and began stroking with his large hands. The feeling was amazing and he wanted it to last, but they were both too drunk to make anything of it besides harsh pants and needy grunts and they were both crying out and coming between them._

_Exhausted, Seeley pushed up and stumbled to his own bed to pass out._

==

“And that was it?” Dave waited for an answer.

“No. That was the start. We were both hungover the next morning but it was obvious what we’d done. Three days later we went drinking again and that time we headed straight back to the room to screw around.” He chewed him lip a minute. “After that we just snuck the alcohol into the dorms to speed up the process. The hand jobs turned into blowjobs and as the training went on, the stuff behind closed doors became more frequent. The first time we both went to the firing rang together it was so…” He blushed now. “That was the first time we didn’t make it back.”

“You had sex in a car?” Dave was surprised, neither of the men were small. That had to have been some feat.

Hotch chuckled. “Just the once. No space.”

“I’ll bet.”

“We had so much in common. And it was nice to be competitive, he had that training from the military, but I could anticipate his every move. I didn’t need to know the skills, I just needed to know him.”

“I bet he loved that.” Dave smiled.

Hotch chuckled. “He hated it so much. He kept on with the normal courses and I took the opening in the profiling classes, we each found something we were good at.”

“That’s when things turned south?”

He nodded. “He had been pulling away. I’d never minded the women, he’d been honest, we weren’t exclusive, but he had come in one night looking more banged up than he should and when I asked, he lied. And it was so obvious he was lying. I tried to explain how I knew…”

“You profiled him.” Dave cut in.

Aaron sighed. “It pissed him off. But I was worried. So, the next time he vanished, I tracked him down. He was gambling, had been for months. He was addicted to the rush by that point and was spending paychecks as fast as they came in. He had a debt with crazy interest and I gave him the money to pay it off so he didn’t end up dead somewhere.”

“But he didn’t pay it.” Dave filled in knowingly.

“No, he used it to gamble more. I told him if he wouldn’t help himself, I couldn’t stick around to see him destroy everything he’d worked for. I asked him what would happen to Jared and…” He cut off.

“Is that what the fight was about?”

Hotch nodded.

==

_ 1995 _

_It had taken six agents to break apart the pair fighting in the middle of the commons. One minute it had been a normal afternoon and the next the pair were rolling on the grass, blood dripping as blows and curses filled the air. They were both good fighters, among the top of their class, and both knew well how to take a punch, their childhoods had prepared them well for that._

_A crowd of trainees had gathered to watch the bloodbath until agents, mostly teachers at the academy, finally risked personal injury to pull the pair apart. Once fully restrained, an agent each holding each arm with a third holding their chests, the damage could be assessed._

_Seeley had cuts and bruises, a serious black eye and possibly a broken nose. He was holding one side of his ribs tightly and breathing hard, either from the exertion of the fight or injury. When the agents pulled him to his feet, he struggled to clear his head enough to walk on his own and they had to support him_

_Aaron looked only slightly better, but was wincing with every breath and when he was dragged to be looked at by a doctor, he was limping, favoring one hip, but he was doing it under his own power. He was being restrained to keep him in check, but he wasn’t being supported._

_From the crowd, someone shouted about watching out for ‘hot-head Hotch’._

==

“I heard about that.”

“You did?”

Rossi nodded slowly. “You had a reputation before that. You had standards, morals you weren’t willing to violate to do the job. A sort of… nobility, that got whispered about in the building.”

Aaron huffed in disbelief.

“I’m not kidding, Aaron. So, did they make you guys change rooms?”

“No. We had to work it out. We barely talked after that, unless we were drunk. And when we were drunk, we weren’t really talking.” He frowned.

“Nothing wrong with angry sex if it helps.”

“It didn’t help. Instead of being happy to both be at the top together, we both decided we had to prove to the other we were better. Anytime we had to run courses, people started coming out to watch us compete. It was like we were on display.”

“All that testosterone? It _was_ a show. They probably could have sold tickets.”

Aaron gave him a half-hearted glare.

Dave just shrugged.

“That just made it worse. The more amped up we got out on the runs, the faster we were back in our room or somewhere getting off. It got to the point where a day at Hogan’s Alley could get us six or eight hours of exhausting and unfulfilling sex later.” A thought crossed his mind and his blushed deep red.

“What.” Rossi asked, deadpan.

“I just remembered.”

He raised a silent brow in askance.

“Our final day there. The loser had to give the winner a blowjob in the woods outside the perimeter.”

Dave really didn’t want to know. He heard his friend mumble something and had to ask. “What was that?”

“We tied.”

“Oh.” He wasn’t going to ask.

“We came back to our room and kept at it till morning. That was the first…only… time we actually went all the way.”

The room wet quiet.

“We didn’t see each other again until I came back from Seattle just over two years later. By then Haley and I were patched up, he was still gambling. I tried to talk to him, stopped by his place, but he was so angry at me trying to tell him what to do. He threw me out.” He frowned again. “I tried again, once I’d made lead profiler a couple years after that, we talked and I had profiled him, the gambling, the drinking, the women, we fought again and he told me he never wanted to see me again.”

“He was hurting.”

“We were hurting each other. Even with almost five years behind us, we were hurting each other.”

Dave waited his friend out, he could see there was more.

“Haley and I started trying for kids, my job seemed stable, you know? But it wasn’t happening for us. I tried to stay positive, but a few years later I saw him out with some woman and a baby. He’d barely known her when they got pregnant and he was trying to do the right thing. It wasn’t fair. Haley and I had been together for years and couldn’t and he goes out and sleeps with her a few times and get a son.”

“You were jealous.”

“I hated him for it.” He replied honestly.

“If I recall, he doesn’t see his son much?”

“How’d you know that?” Aaron was surprised.

“I spend more time in the Hoover Building than you. I overhear things.”

“After that, we got Jack and I got the promotion and we pretty much avoided each other.”

“It’s been eight years. You’ve both matured.”

“I doubt it.”

Dave gave him a knowing look. “So, you really haven’t seen hide nor hair of him in five years?”

“No. And I’ve managed to avoid any rumors either. I am blissfully unaware.”

“But you know about the woman, the scientist he works with?”

“Doctor Brennan? Yes, I know of her.”

“Did you know she just had a baby?”

He thought a minute. “I think I heard something.”

Dave smirked. “Did you know it was his?”

Hotch was stunned. He’d known about their attraction years ago, the last time he’d seen Booth, the man had been with his partner and the way Seeley’s eyes never strayed from her for more than a second, it was obvious how he felt. “Really.”

“Really.”

==

It was hot, which was odd for this time of year, as Hotch hauled his gear to the drop point at the entrance of Hogan’s Alley. The weekend was a series of competitions done in shifts set up based on skill level. It meant that he would be up against Booth in almost every category.

Thinking over what the weekend would hold as he waited, Aaron mentally ran through the TEVOC driving course that was in the afternoon and the six-mile running and obstacle course the next morning.

“How are you?” A familiar voice asked, startling him back into the present.

Aaron turned and faced Booth for the first time in years, taking in the lines and marks he didn’t have before. “Okay. I hear congratulations are in order.”

Instantly, Booth glanced over to where spectators were gathered at a safe distance. “Thanks.” He took a breath. “Would you like to see a picture?”

“Of course.” He waited as he ex-lover pulled out his wallet and a photo of both parents cradling a sleeping infant. “She’s beautiful.”

“I know.” Booth stared at the photo a moment before putting it away. “I’m sorry… about Haley. I heard but… I wasn’t sure if you wanted to hear from me.”

A lump formed in his throat. “Thanks. It’s been rough.” He drew in a ragged breath. “But Jack and I, we’re getting through.”

“That’s good.” The silence stretched between them. “You stayed in the BAU?”

“Yeah. My team… they’re family, you know? We’d do anything for each other. They help with Jack when I need it.”

“That’s good.” He repeated. “They here today?”

Aaron smiled. “Bottom right in the stands. They made sure Jack could watch too.”

Booth turned and saw the small group down front. “He’s getting big.”

“He is. Just Doctor Brennan and your daughter here?”

Seeley shook his head. “I have the whole squint squad.” When Aaron turned finally to look, he pointed them out. “Bones told them about it and they wanted to come cheer me on. They said something about family too.”

“Bones? Really?”

“What?” Booth shrugged.

“I think once you have a baby together, you get to use her proper name, Seeley.”

“Funny, Cam said the same thing.”

“Cam? As in the girl you used to sneak out to see?”

“She works with Bones now. Well, technically she’s her boss.”

Hotch chuckled. “You look happy.”

“I am.”

“I’m happy for you. You deserve happy.” He patted his shoulder and started to walk away.

“Hey. Aaron?”

“Yeah?” He turned back around.

“You deserve happy too. Don’t be afraid to go find it.”

The lump was back. “I won’t.”

Booth grinned wide. “As long as you don’t plan on finding it this weekend, cause I’m going to kick your ass out here.”

Hotch tossed his head back and laughed out loud. “In your dreams. Game on.”


End file.
